Mineral Point
Mineral Point, Wisconsin was established by Cornish miners that came over from England in the early 1800s. When the mines in Cornwall were exhausted, they looked to Wisconsin to continue their trade. The town today still has British flair, and it is said to be ‘The Most Cornish Town in the USA’! The miner’s built their houses to look like those that they had left in England. Visitors can take a tour of Pendarvis, a group of 3 stone houses with Cornish names. In the USA the main road that passes through a town is called ‘Main St’, however, in the UK, it’s known as a High Street. There are several different art galleries in the town. Mulberry Pottery makes its pots out of clay shipped over from St Austell in Cornwall. There are traditional performances and events, a Cornish Pasty supper, and the ‘Taste of Mineral Point’ food festival.
Pendarvis is a historic site in Mineral Point, Iowa County, Wisconsin. It consists of several 19th-century cabins built by immigrants who came to Mineral Point to work in lead mines. The site is a museum of early lead mining in Wisconsin and is owned and managed by the Wisconsin Historical Society. During the height of the mining era in what is today’s Wisconsin, in the 1830s and 1840s, the population of Mineral Point grew to over 4,000 as people came to work in the lead mines. Many immigrants were tin miners from Cornwall, Great Britain. They built simple houses from wood or limestone. As the lead mines were exhausted, many miners moved on to other mining sites, especially in California. Many of the old cabins were being torn down in the 1920s. A couple of local residents purchased and restored several of the old Cornish buildings and called the first one Pendarvis. The collection of restored buildings was transferred to the Wisconsin Historical Society in 1970. The site was opened to the public as the Pendarvis Historic Site, containing a number of authentic mining tools and household items.
Location: Iowa County, Wisconsin, United States
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